VBS, I have become absolutely horrible about blogging. Its seems that photography and genealogy have trumped gardening and writing as hobbies these days. Perhaps the sad state of my garden has discouraged me from working in it. Kind of a downward spiral.
Our yard in November is littered with liquid amber leaves. We save them in bags to compost over the course of a year.
The record-breaking heat out there has not been to my liking. Yes, it’s mid-November. No, it isn’t supposed to be that warm, even here in southern California. But it is. We had another 85 degree day yesterday. I have managed to give the back enough water to keep things alive, but the front is suffering in the heat and drought. Come on, rain, this is rainy season. Where are you?
Without a storm, the leaves are still on the trees and the color is peaking beautifully.
The olive tree in front of the liquid amber is hiding some of that beautiful foliage. Looks like it is time to get the olive pruned again.
Our hedge of jade usually blooms in January, but the first flowers are open already. These are just buds.
Summer lingers. I still have eggplants in the garden.
And bell peppers. But not this one. We ate it for breakfast in scrambled eggs.
Holy cow, there is still a watermelon in my garden. I’d better eat it pretty darn quick before it outgrows those old pantyhose.
Our five hens are doing fine, but only one is still laying. The others are either molting, or have finished laying for the winter.
I picked the first of our avocados today. It will take about 10 days after they are picked before they will be ripe.
Citrus season is just beginning. I have a few ripe Meyer and Eureka lemons, with more coming along.
It looks like the navel oranges will be huge this year. The Valencia oranges are tiny and not even close to being ripe yet.
I froze a lot of lime juice from last year’s crop. Good thing, because this year’s crop set is scanty.
Some of my Komatsuna (Asian mustard greens) lasted through the summer. I am hoping that the plant will produce more leaves once cooler weather gets here. Then I can make a stir fry.
This is a Giant Marconi sweet pepper. I have four nice big ones that I plan to stuff.
This is a beet that is going into its third year. I will enter it in the county fair next summer if it survives this winter. I don’t know yet if it is a contender for Largest Beet or Strangest Shaped Beet. Right now it looks like it could win in either category.
I took some pictures of my four raised beds for vegetables, but am too embarrassed to show them. I have really let my garden go raggedity. I got two of the beds cleaned up today. Two more to go. Then I will add compost and manure and they will be ready for fall planting. It is planting season now for peas, onions, garlic, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, chard, lettuce, radishes, and Asian greens such as Komatsuna, Mizuna, and Bok Choy.
I have tried to create my first poll for my blog. I hope it shows up below.
It shows up on my screen. If is shows up on yours, click on the appropriate button so I will know if it works or not. That is assuming that people are still reading my blog.
Aha! I did not have the poll “open.” I fixed that, so now try it. I think polls are going to be a fun addition.
Lou Murray's Green World 
lou – why do you put watermel
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Candycorn, I assume that the end of that sentence is “why do I put watermelon in pantyhose?” Same reason I put cantaloupe in pantyhose. To keep them up off the ground to give me more space in my garden. I garden vertically as much as I can to save space in my tiny, tiny garden.
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Lou, the only planting I got done this Summer was a Santa Rosa Plum tree. Our avocado tree produced a bumper crop this year which I shared with some special neighbors. Our neighbors shared their crops of oranges,tomatoes and squash. Our Meyer lemon tree also produced many nice lemons but not enough to share. A lot of my time is focused on genealogy too as got to talk to the older family members before they leave us with such valuable information. Using genealogy to help others find their family. Always enjoy your post.
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Lita, genealogy is the main reason why my garden has suffered so much neglect lately. I get totally lost in it, tracing ancestors back in time. DNA testing has added a whole new layer to it, and is helping me prove that certain lines really are what I think they are. It is amazing to me that most of the DNA cousins that I have found a common ancestor with are my 7th, 8th, and 9th cousins.
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I do envy you all those lemons,avocados..and peppers. And what a huge Liquidamber, they are amazing for this time of the year.
Chloris.
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Liz, the liquid amber trees were getting way too big for our yard, so we had them pruned this week. They will now transpire less water, an important thing during our current drought.
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